Could Kyle Harrison return from the injured list with a new wrinkle?

For most big-leaguers, rehab outings are just about getting the work in. For Kyle Harrison, there was an actual objective. 

When Harrison made his lone rehab start in Grand Chute on July 31, he wanted to use it as a low-stakes opportunity to throw his changeup and throw it a lot. 

After debuting the brand-new pitch to much aplomb and fantastic results in spring training, Harrison has refrained from using it prominently during the season.

The changeup is hovering at just 10% usage, trailing his four-seamer (58%) and slurve (31%). The most Harrison has thrown it in a game was 17 times and a 16.8% rate on April 26, but since then he’s gone over 10% usage only three times. 

When he has thrown it, the results haven’t been great. Opponents are batting .273 and slugging .485 against the pitch with two homers in 33 at-bats. Harrison hasn’t generated more than two changeup whiffs in a game all year. 

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“It didn’t feel the best coming out of my hand,”  Harrison said. 

A changeup, more than any other pitch, is about feel. A kick change takes that to another level because the top of the middle finger is spiked on the ball. 

“It’s such a wonky grip,” Harrison said. “Certain situations in game speed you come set, pitch clock’s at eight [seconds], my grip’s not fully set. You’re worried that you gotta go, you gotta go. You lose the grip a little. It’s been more of that than anything.” 

Harrison has also had to tinker with the grip throughout the year. A blister developed on his middle finger during spring because he was applying too much pressure with his middle finger and digging it into the ball. Then a second blister developed near the side of his thumb because his index finger was digging in and sliding off as the ball released. Harrison still has to apply glue to the second blister to keep it from opening up again. 

Pitching is all about conviction, and if there’s hesitation about a certain pitch – even a semblance of it – you better throw something else. 

“It’s more of a confidence thing with that pitch now,” Harrison said. “When I first go to camp I’m really trying to figure out the grip, trying to figure out where to hold it, the pressure. Now I feel like I’ve got the pressure and grip and now it’s just, ‘Throw it like a heater.’ Trust it. Trust the arm slot and the work I’ve been doing during the week.” 

Harrison got the opportunity to do that for Class High-A Wisconsin last week and the left-hander took advantage of it, spamming it to right-handed batters. It was the best the changeup has felt all regular season for Harrison, too. 

“It’s about getting game reps with that pitch,” Harrison said. “That’s why it was cool for me to over-use that in a game setting. Out of the stretch, out of the windup, the game reps and arm speed, selling it like a heater.” 

Throwing it against big-league hitters, as Harrison knows oh-so well, is a different story, however. 

As he makes his first start in nearly one month August 5 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, there will be opportunities to use it, particularly against a string of righties in the lineup who struggle against changeups. 

We’ll see if the conviction carries over.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Could Kyle Harrison return from the injured list with a new wrinkle?